ABSTRACT
The Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) has been portrayed as a source of cheap, clean, and nonpolluting, plentiful electricity. More specifically, on one hand it has been justified as the lowest cost solution to the Western Region Expansion Program, while on the other hand, the power to be generated at the SSP has been projected to be a major financial benefit. Further, few people realize that the SSP itself is going to consume large quantities of power, mainly in Gujarat, and hence, the net power benefit from the SSP will be marginal even if it did deliver as promised. And hydropower, always thought of as cheap and clean, makes the SSP Hydro seem a very attractive proposal. The Narmada Control Authority put the cost of hydropower from the SSP at Rs 11,750 per kilowatt installed as capital costs, while the costs of energy were worked out as 80 paise per unit in the initial stages of the operation.
